A Shovel In Time
by corvusdraconis
Summary: Sophie/Lucard : A February blizzard covers the city in snow, bringing a snow-covered truce between the House of Helsing and Alexander Lucard


**A/N: **An old story buried in the depths of my hard drive. (And why does copy and pasting do really stupid things when submitting things? ARGH!

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**A Shovel in Time**

Max placed the finishing touches on a snowfield of snow crosses around the Helsing home as his brother dutifully shoveled the path to the house. He smoothed the edges of his carefully constructed sculptures and patted his mittens together to knock the last of the snow off them.

"Hey bro," Max called, "Do you think that if we had the snow clouds blessed, the snow would be considered holy? We could defeat Dracula with snowballs!"

Christopher rubbed his eyes with his snow-covered mittens and sighed. "I don't think it works that way, Max. You could be helping me shovel this walkway so Uncle Gustav doesn't break his back trying to do it himself."

" I'm just making sure our house is protected from vampires," Max replied.

"The Cross of the Magyars hasn't failed us yet, Max," Chris admonished his younger brother.

"Well this has to be the largest collection of snow crosses I've ever seen, Max," Gustav's voice chuckled from the entryway. "I see you boys have been busy this morning."

"No thanks to Mr. Sculptor here," interjected Chris as he cleared the last of the snow around Gustav's car.

Gustav smiled. "Thank you for cleaning the walkway, Christopher. I doubt we are going to travel with all this snow today, but if we need to, it will nice to not have to blaze a trail."

Chris slung the shovel over his shoulder and shrugged to his Uncle, "No problem, Uncle Gustav."

"Do you think Dracula has to shovel his driveway, Uncle Gustav?" Max packed together a messy snowball and pelted his brother with it causing Chris to tackle him into the snow bank.

"Oh, I'm sure the snow has him trapped just like us," Helsing replied as he stared off towards the castle and saw nothing but the haze of falling snow. "He still has human employees to worry about. Anyway, there is hot cocoa waiting for you two inside."

"Yes!" Max wriggled free from his brother and bolted into the house.

"Sophie was supposed to come by this weekend, right, Uncle Gustav?" Chris huffed as he struggled over the snow bank.

"She's probably going to stay on campus in this weather, Chris," Gustav replied. "I left a message on her machine not to try and brave the roads until later."

Chris' disappointment flickered across his face, but he brushed off the last of the snow and went in the house after his brother. "Hopefully Lucard stays inside too."

"We can hope, Chris." Gustav followed the two boys and closed the door after him.

Sophie propped herself up against her snow shovel and breathed heavily. A deep trench carved into the pristine snowfield that concealed the walkway left just enough room for her to open her door and make a path to the street. Looking down the street, she noticed one neighbor had decided to clean a path to the street as well, but the rest of the street was strangely desolate. The street, while plowed, was barren of traffic, and the regular flow of pedestrians was absent.

"I see you have been quite busy, my dear," Alexander's voice broke the silence and resonated in the air. He stood in the middle of the street with his customary elegance, but he bore a snow shovel slung over his right shoulder.

Sophie's smile was half covered by a blush as she stared down at the pavement. "Good afternoon, Alexander," she replied softly.

"I brought my own shovel in the case you were trapped indoors with snow up your windows," Lucard explained with a flourish of the shovel. "…and coffee." He pulled a thermos cup out from under his coat as he approached and extended it to her.

"You are a godsend," Sophie breathed heavily as she took the thermos from him and worked off the lid. Sipping the steaming coffee slowly, she rubbed hands against the thermos to share the warmth.

"Don't tell Helsing," Lucard mused. "It might ruin his opinion of me."

Sophie smiled at the thought. "I doubt it will come up in conversation." She inhaled the scent of the coffee in between sips. "My favorite kind from the café downtown. How ever did you find out?"

"Now, now, my dear," Lucard chided in mock indignation. "What kind of vampire do you take me for?"

"The merciless kind," Sophie answered wryly as she finished off her coffee with a longing last swig.

"Indeed I am merciless, "Lucard admitted. "You'll be receiving a French press and fresh coffee beans every week for the next year starting tomorrow when roads are clear again."

Sophie's eyes widened and she almost lost her grip on the thermos. Lucard closed the space between them with his eerie swiftness and rescued the thermos from a shattering demise.

"Allow me to assist you with this snow, my dear." Lucard's smile was swift, and had Sophie not been practiced in the subtle art of reading his face for signs of her own impending death, she may have missed it completely.

After standing with her mouth agape for a few moments, Sophie shook off the surprise and continued with the shoveling until the snow was cleared from the front of her flat. "Thank you."

"You wouldn't have to worry about such things if you would take my offer to live at the castle," Lucard stated as he cleared the last of the snow from the walkway. He knocked the last of the snow off his shovel and regarded her with his intense eyes. The evening street lamps had begun to glow, casting the snow in a strange tint of amber.

He extended a hand with a commanding air, and Sophie took it without hesitation or offense. He pulled her close to his chest as a soft growl escaped his lips. He allowed his snow shovel to fall to the ground as his hand cradled her head to his shoulder. He tilted her chin up to face him. His eyes bled into gold as his vampire nature surged forward.  
Sophie felt his lips brush against hers and a shiver ran down her spine.

"I think they would definitely notice if I no longer had an address in town…" her words trailed off as his kiss covered her mouth, and her hands slid along his jaw in response to his attention. Her fingers soothed the hair around his ears triggering him to draw her closer.

His lips slid down her skin to her neck, but he paused, rubbing his cheek against hers in a slow savoring movement.

"I happen to know the landlord," he hissed sensitively into her ear. "You could keep this address and they would never have to know where you really live." His fingers played with the hair at the base of her neck.

"You," Sophie began and drew in her breath when he nibbled the tender skin of her neck with his teeth, "are very hard to say no to, Alexander."

"Centuries of practice, my Darling," he purred, pulling back to meet her gaze.

Sophie touched his face; her fingers ran across his lower lip, and his lips parted in a soft hiss. She traced his teeth with her fingers and lost herself in his golden gaze. Small gestures of trust such as these had slowly whittled away her conditioning to fear him, allowing him to court her.

He pressed his palm to her cheek and rubbed her skin with his thumb affectionately. "It would please me very much if you would accept my offer, Sophie."

Sophie searched his face for signs of untruth, but a part of her knew already that he was not lying to her. They had come too far to start lying to each other now. "I would never do anything to displease you, Alexander," she echoed the words she had spoken so many years previous.

Dracula held her against himself with a soft hiss of pleasure; his talons ran through her hair like a comb. "I shall have keys made for you tomorrow, so you can stop using those atrocious skeleton keys Helsing likes to use so much."

Sophie blushed and tried to make herself look as small as possible by burying her face into Alexander's coat.

"I thought about changing the locks to something involving a retina scan and key code combination, but knowing how things work, Maximilian will find a way to accidentally wedge chewing gum into the reader and fry the keypad with holy water," Lucard continued.

Sophie made a strangled choking sound causing Lucard to pause in his musings and tilt her head up to look at him. Sophie's shoulders quaked as she tried to stifle her laughter, but she ended up looking as though she was crying instead. "Stop it, Alexander," she gasped. "I cannot breathe."

"I cannot have you dying on me just yet, my dear," Lucard said as he leaned down and picked his shovel up from the snow bank. Taking her hand in his and pressing his lips to the back of her hand, he stepped back. "I will see you tomorrow," he added with a purr.

Sophie watched as he stepped into the shadow and disappeared from sight. "I'll probably still be here," she pondered, " buried in coffee beans."

"Good thing I have a shovel," she heard Lucard's laughing voice in her head.

"Merciless," Sophie hissed into the darkness in retort.

"Worthy to be a rebel, for to that / The multiplying villanies of nature / Do swarm upon him," Lucard's voice whispered to her as she picked up her shovel and let herself back into her flat.

"Some Cupid kills with arrows, some with traps," Sophie quoted to the air and closed the door behind her.


End file.
